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Monday, 9 March 2009

Tarred and Feathered

Whilst I'm on a Crime and Punishment theme, these are pictures of Jock Nelson, tarred and feathered on the streets of Belfast for dealing crack and heroin to teenagers.

Arguably it's the community taking the law into its own hands, more likely,as one local druggy puts it, "... it's because they (the paramlitaries) want to deal all the drugs. I don't think it's because of that. I think it's just because they like violence - and I mean really like it. We wouldn't stand a chance if we sold drugs. We'd be dead within a week."

Whatever the reason, it's hard both to feel too much sympathy for Jock Nelson, or any respect for the people who did this. Worse things than this have happened in Northern Ireland at the weekend, but violence and murder doesn't emerge out of a vacuum.